Outfit whereby you press down on a pedal and I turn the wheel around and then the plot of the mark Garrett was run by electricity I guess because the Leo was going around and all of Potter had to do was to make the object in the course that was the main thing that was what it's all about and he had very deft hands in fact all of them dead and it was amazing how they could take a piece of clay and just in a few moments of be a beautiful looking vase or maybe it was a loss I don't know but whatever it was was very attractive and there were 2 things that impressed me as I watched the Potter work was the shapeless heap of ugly mud and that was about as unattractive as anything I've ever seen that it was certainly something that you couldn't help but not with it and then they had a display room and the 2nd thing that impressed me was those 6 ways it places a vos is that they had on display they were objects of art and many Potters were in bending over there who eels intent on the work at hand and the difference was the Potter between that clay and that beautiful vise now the picture here I think is quite easy God made the application God is the potter it's really is clay in particular here but all mankind in general you and I are clay in the plotters hands each individual let's make it personal you and I we are the clay God is the potter not of figure the Potter and the clay it is very impressive and very important an apology used it in the New Testament you go over to the 9 chapter of Romans at verse 21 let me read that. Beginning that hath not a potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel and honor and another on to dishonor block if God willing to show its wrath and to make our node in June 3rd with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath that it to destruction this is tremendous statement by the way and it's pretty hard for a lot of folks to swallow it now God is the potter I think that's quite obvious and Paul speaks of that and Paul also speaks of the clay over and 2nd term if they to 21 I read this language if a man that full of courage himself from these he should be a vessel under honor sanctified and meet for the master's use and prepared and every good word of vessel in our pottery that's all notice what this Potter day in this Potter was making a vessel and it got marred in his hand it would need the clay has to be just right texture and this clay wooden yield to him made it less and softer not and so it was marred and he pitched it aside and what did he do he picked it up then later and he made another kind of a vassal he did that now what we have here are 2 things that I want you to notice one is the power of the potter and the personality of the clay Now that's an interesting thing and then we're going to see the very opposite of that the personality of the potter and the power of the clay Now those sound like paradoxes but let's look at them 1st the power of the potter now like a giant potter God took clay and for mine and the physical part of man we're told. Over Genesis 2 verse 7 and the Lord God for man of the dust of the ground and brings dental is not the breath of life and man became a living so God was the Potter now there's something quite interesting about this Potter no one can stop this Potter no one can question his right no one can resist this way oh no one can say him nay no one can alter his plan no one can speak back to him like the little Gingerbread Boy did the stories told about a little boy would land down at the creek and he took mud and he was making a mud Nyan Annie got it all made except one on any had didn't put that on because his father called him to go with him into town and so when he was in town the little boy walking around he saw a man with one arm and he kept looking at that man and finally love a long time and said dumb says Why did you run off before I finished you may I say that God finishes all of us nowhere will you find such a graphic picture of the sovereignty of God we hear today a great deal about the rights of man but they've forgotten all about the rights of God and why the worst racketeering gangs can claim they best Amendment and you just can't make him answer questions why because you got freedom you have freedom and the Puritans taught that too no way to have freedom but may I say that they also taught that God was solve them and God has certain rights. And God has in testable of thought ready the as irresistible ability he has and in accessible and. Flexible whale tough farm and to fashion individuals and nice humans and a world and the universe God has Kowa it carries through his way all the day he's answerable to no one God is not working for a loss he doesn't watch the clock he's not responsible to abort a deacon's he does not have to answer to a board of directors he sovereign he's an absolute dictator and a sovereign and you and I live in a universe which is running the please say I'm maybe you don't like it a man said to me and it was a neighbor of mine we live here at the foothills of the Sarah mater mountains he said you know that these mountains to me sometimes are little depressive they give me a phobia down been shot a man and closed and he says you know I would just like to move him back a little and I said to him Why don't you do it and he looked at me amazed and always says I can't do it and I said Do you know why they are where they are well he says I guess it was because of some great convulsion in nature that took place in the past and I said Yes I think that's a way it happened but you know why they're right where they are no he says I really don't well I said I can tell you they have lab a cause that where God wants them to be men say to you to day you and I are living in the universe that is running for him it's for his lower rate and the rebellion of nigh on the day is like a tempest in the teapot you can't surprise him you can't deceive him you can't disturb him God rides triumphantly that day in his own chariot and who's going to say I'm not a. Who's going to tell him whether he's wrong or not may I say to you God is solid run the power of the potter now I notice the personality of the clay now somebody says that's a mixed metaphor Claes formless it shapeless it's lifeless it's a mud a mass it's an app it's in her tits and capable it's gooey and not good and after all a scripture says the psalmist said he remembers that we are dust and sometimes we forget about it and when we do why when dust gets stuck on itself it's mud may I say to you there's snow in the air on the ballot helpless and hopeless we are told that Paul made it very clear when he was tough and said if the Jand sure remember how he put that how he starts off with man as a center and you Athey Quicken who dad in Trespass says and say in and we're told in the scripture for when we were yet without strength Christ died Vaughters all my friend today you and I need to recognize that our God is a sovereign God and that we to day are our clay but the very interesting thing is that yes something to say about that play so then it's not of him that will it not of him that run it but of God that show with mercy God is the one that is in charge none of us have any claim on God God made that clear he said to Moses I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy and I'll have compassion on whom I left compassion he says Moses I'm going to hear you but I'm not going to hear you because you're Moses I'm going to hear you because I extend my. Mercy that's the reason God heard them God is not obligated there's any man at all God is free to act he's righteous and he's holy and this is a lost world and it could remain that but now we have the 2nd thing here we have the personality of the potter and the power of the clay and where you lesson that here in this passage of Scripture that we have before us here in Jeremiah verse 4 and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter so he made it again and not a vessel as it seemed good to the potter to make it now if God were a cruel and arbitrator dictator this would be the most terrifying truth I can think of actually if God were absolutely brutal and if he was heartless then it would be a rip costs it to us it would be a reponse if if God were then directed if he was motivated by 0.0 m. If he was Teddy and prejudice and potential and and perfidious if he was any of these it says here he made a gay in another vessel by because of his patients. You have no right to question God Actually it's blasphemy be shed put it like this and they're reverent equalising of nigh on what's gone the minute you begin to question him you put yourself in his place you say you're a god and there are a lot of people today who say they're going to be saved by their own method when man said I'm going to work this thing out my sound I'm a good man I'm going to do good I said what you're trying to do is you will work in your way up yonder to the throne of God And when you get there you go and tell him move over the 2 of us now may I say to you you're not gone you're going to come his way but he's gracious he's kind and God acts with all wisdom and all the love and all just as he can fling the play from him forever and if I were God that's game you can play some time years ago that got out a play called green pastures and want to play God in that and it probably was blasphemous I never saw it but I'm told that the one who played God looked down that there and said Look like my shell undone forgot all about me Well Adam Sandler Jacob. And God didn't throw him overboard God was through with me took the clay and worked it over and in the Book of Jonah the most heartening word is the word of the Lord came when the Jonah of the 2nd time Jonah fail a 1st time and Peter could say to the lowered when he came to him there facing at the same day Galilee when he gone back to face and he says Depart from Me I'm a send for man what he said was Well why don't you go get somebody else I've failed just some money and a lot of says you a clay on the pot as we'll and I love you and I'm going to make a vessel out of you and my day. Day on the day of Pentecost he preached the greatest sermon the churches ever had May I say to you what we have is the personality of the potter knowledge talk about the power of the clay now somebody says well you did mean to tell me that Clay as power should as the condition of the clay is the determining factor in its ultimate destiny when it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart actually God didn't hardness heart God brought out that his heart was hard dog made him reveals why he was there a lot of people today flying back of false colors they have to credit go and that's one of the reasons I think God permits suffering become a great many follow the sun shines on the clay and it will harden it it'll shine on a cold face eyes and melt it and it brings that out may I say to you God never hardened Pharaoh's heart again and again he gave that man an opportunity to turn to him you know even the magician came to Pharaoh and said done this is the finger of God and His servants came to him said Let these people go and even he relented after each play but one time he cried out I've seen in this time the Lord is righteous but he didn't turn to God and what happens all house of s. Real Cannot I do with you as does said the law and behold as the clay is in the father's And so where ye and mine and I and all house of Israel but a picture that we have now he shall send him stronger allusion in the last days to see send a net to those that would not receive the love of the true you see the clay has power the clay can determine what it's going to be the large isas said day is today . So I post will you all so go away that I could have the rich young ruler he went away sorrowful and Alloa didn't say we're going to sing 14 more stanzas to see if he won't come following he just let him go the class our friends you can turn your back on him you can shake your faith as you can do that you can cash is self upon his mercy and yield good sweet influence this is a lesson that Jeremiah got Need took it to is people and they resisted it and they turned their back on God then said they common Let us divide as devices against Jeremiah bursts 18 for the laws shall not perish from the priest in a council from the wise know the word from the prophet time and let us mind him with the tongue and let us not give he Dan and his word rejected Jeremiah why they said this man is not saying that but she is true at all that Clay as fower and sodas they Potter by the way and in the 19th chapter why the law told him verse one thus sat the law go and get a pot as Earth and bottle and take of the ancients of the people and the ancients of the brain and go forth into the valley of the sun of him and that valley it became the place where they cast garbage but one of the great battles was fought in the Valley of Hinnom he says Now you go there and you break that bottle and then you come back what's the message God says that's what I'm going to do to the house of Israel that's what's going to happen to them and because he gave this message this is what happened to the man then came Jeremiah from Kofi where the law did send him to prophesied he stood in the court of the Lord's house and. Said all of people verse 14 that is 1st 15 the dust settle lot of all it's a lot of s. Rail the whole I'll bring up on the city and upon all our towns all the evil that I've pronounced against it because they have hardened their necks that they might not hear my words and so we find the cause of that message will sing next time that they began now to persecute Jeremiah these are the last days of that nation and this man with a broken heart than eyes fill with tears gave the mass age of the people a lot of profit but not popular never popular not popular today either. Well despite what's popular in the world today are you willing to surrender to the Potter's hand to shape you and the mold you as he chooses if you've been resisting God and all that he wants to do for you I'd urge you to yield to him today you'll be glad that you did if you don't understand what Dr McGee is talking about when he talks about salvation visit us at t t v dot org and click on the banner that says how can I know God There you'll find some free resources written and recorded by Dr McGee that describe the gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ or call us at 1865 bible you can also always write to us at Box 7100 Pasadena California 91109 in Canada box 25325 London Ontario and 6 c 61 and will be sure to put a couple of these resources in the mail to you and for those of you who are already walking with the Lord I'd like to remind you that the resources section of t t v dot org is packed with great Bible study materials by Dr McGee that we think will help you continue to grow deeper in your knowledge and love for God's word including this month's feature download masterpiece your life in God's hands in it Dr McGee turns to the passage that we just studied today to illustrate what God can do with lives placed in his skilled and capable hands and if we can help you find something in particular don't hesitate to give us a call at 1865 bible now as we break for the weekend I'd like you to join me for the Sunday sermon this week Dr McGee will help us quiet our busy lives through a message called the sanctuary of the soul it's based on Jeremiah 1712 this message is as a political for today's noisy world as when Dr McGee 1st preached it many years ago to listen online or see if your station carries the Sunday sermon visit us at t t v dot org On Monday our study of Jeremiah continues I hope that you'll join us right here at the same time and place I'm Steve Schwartz and for. All of us that through the Bible were praying that God fills you with His grace mercy and peace until we meet again the things that. We're so grateful for the only generous order through the Bible's partners were being used by God to take the whole word to the whole world you're tuned to am sick 70 Cayle t.t. Come a city Denver k o t t h d and streaming worldwide at 670 calle t.t. Dot com You know what a thirsty deer looks like when it's running toward water or the writers or scripture think you have because in the Senate I'm John Stone St This is breaking. One of the defining features of God's Word is how often it points us to God's world much of Scripture in fact assumes a certain level of understanding about nature so it would seem if we fail to go outdoors if we fail to experience and ever engage in God's creation then our faith could suffer nearly every book of the Bible is bursting with references to creation chronicling in soaring prose the making of the universe identifying God's covenant promises with colors in the sky and inviting us to gaze with Father Abraham at the starry host where an even greater promise has been written for us the sourness compares the longing of his soul for God with the thirst of a deer running towards water fully expecting his readers to get the word picture he sings of the heavens divine declaration he praises the Lord for making mankind ruler of all the flocks and herds animals of the wild birds of the sky and fish of the sea asked the beast and will teach you says job the birds of the heavens no tell you the bush is of the earth and they will teach you and the fish of the sea will declare to you in his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind and of course she's in South announce the kingdom of God on Earth with parables talking about trees seeds birds of the air which God feeds along with lilies of the field which he clothes the Bible at length promises that the consummate. Of history like its beginning will take place and a garden city atop a mountain with a river of life and trees whose leaves are to heal the nations now faced with this forest of references it's hard to see how someone who will never spend time outside could ever fully grasp the things that Scripture really wants us to today the benefits of modern technology have effectively cut us off from the natural world as well as the general revelation about God that it offers perhaps more than any other time in history whether it's our temperature regulated homes and offices or glowing screens or asphalt jungles much of our lives happen in an artificial world that's designed to insulate us from nature there are costs to this insulation last May The Washington Post reported that children today spend less time in unstructured outdoor play than any prior generation which research as indicated results in worst school performance less creativity higher levels of obesity fewer friends and increased rates of depression and hyperactivity even more critically the world kids experience today there's very little resemblance to the backdrop of the Bible writing of the Gospel coalition Scott Martin calls this modern isolation from creation not only physically but spiritually dangerous citing studies demonstrating how time and nature reshapes our brains he suggests that our manmade worlds of concrete and climate control rob us not only of the practical vocabulary to understand scripture but it actually makes unbelief easier our babble like convenience can delude us into thinking that we're self-sufficient and can conceal her own frailty and how we actually depend on the God of creation for as Paul put it life and breath and everything well thankfully there's a simple solution to all of this and that's go outside now I realize some of that privilege I live in Colorado Springs where Pike's Peak is visible from just about every west facing window but opportunities to experience the majesty of God's creation are everywhere Martin suggest intentionally getting wet in the rain once in a while or working on your church. Which is landscaping or visiti